Traffic returns to scenic toll road

Nearly a year after a massive landslide forced the closure of a 20-mile section of coastal highway north of Ensenada, the cars and trucks are back.

The southern end of the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road, shut down since Dec. 28, was reopened Tuesday at 4 p.m. The 55-mile scenic highway runs along Baja California’s main tourism corridor, and also serves as a key commercial link.

“It is the most important artery for Baja California, and for the entire peninsula,” said Adrian Olea, president of the Ensenada umbrella group, the Business Coordinating Council.

Since the collapse of a 330-yard section of the road at Kilometer 93, much of the traffic has been funneled through a two-lane inland road that veers off at La Mision, while trucks traveling between Ensenada and the border have been rerouted through Tecate.

Olea said that the sectors hit hardest by the closure have been fishing, agriculture and the maquiladora industry, due to delayed shipments and higher transportation costs.

Ensenada’s business and political leaders have been asking Mexico’s federal government to temporarily stop collecting tolls on the road to compensate for the losses. They are also asking the federal Communications and Transportation Secretariat to move quickly on plans for an alternative road that would go inland from Bajamar at Kilometer 77.

The toll road runs through an area that is prone to landslides, largely because of moisture beneath the surface, geologists say. That was the main factor behind the road’s collapse, they said, and repairs involve the construction of an underground drainage system to capture the moisture.

The road’s rebuilding cost more than $38 million, according to a statement from Mexico’s Communications and Transportation Secretariat.